Smelting stack-furnace



No. 621,088. Patented Mar. l4, I899. C. A. HOUSE &. F. A. DUPEA.

SMELTING STACK FURNACE.

(A'pplication filed Mar, 17, 1898.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l M aJfoW WITNESSES; I 2 I? I INVENTURS; 5 41M Wm M W ATTORNEY ERS co.. PHOTO-LITNG.WASHINGTON D c furnaces of this character.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES A. HOUSE AND FREDRIOK A. DUPEA, OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON.

SMELT ING STACK- FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 621,088, dated Mar'ch 14, 1899.

Application filed March 1 7, 1 8 9 8;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we,C.HARLEs A. HOUSE an FREDRICK A. DUPEA, citizens of the United States, residing at Tacoma, in the county of Pierce and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Smelting Stack-Furnaces, of which the fol= lowing is a specification.

Our invention comprises a new apparatus for the smelting and reduction of ores applied to and used in combination with the common form of stack-furnaces now in gen eral use.

The objects of our invention are, first, to combine the elements both of a regenerating and of a stack furnace; second, to erect and operate a smelting-furnace on a plan that is both economical and practical to the individual mine-owner, and, third, to produce a means for making and producing gaseous fuel from liquid hydrocarbons and successfully applying the use of the same to a stackfurnace. We obtain these objects by means of the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view of the furnace, in which one-half is a side elevation and one-half is a vertical section near the center. Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal section of the furnace. at 2 2. Fig. 3 is a top view of one of the combustion generating-furnaces. Fig. 4 is a top View of the coil of pipe for superheating the steam with chambers for mixing and discharging the steam and oil. Fig. 5 is a top View of the coil of pipes with chamber used to heat and discharge the air needed for combustion.

Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section of the furnace and condenser. Fig. '7 represents a plan section of the condenser.

Similar letters refer to similar parts in the several views.

Our furnace comprises an upright or stack furnace A not unlike in form other The lower part of the furnace is inclosed with a water-jacket B, which rests on a brick base, in which is constructed the lead-well O for collecting the lead or bullion run from the ores, and a siphon-well D, from which the bullion is dipped out and poured into molds. The masonry of the upper part of the furnace is supported on four posts, as shown at E. The

Serial No. 6"74 198. (No model.)

furnace is open at the top and is provided with a smoke-stack J, that may be raised or lowered at pleasure. A flue F leads from the side of A through the condenser K,hereinafter described, to the large smoke-stack. The top of the furnace is designed to be on a level with the upper floor of the smelting-works, as indicated at H, and the furnace is to be charged from this floor, the ore being dumped in under thesmoke-jackJ.

The water-jacket B is kept full of running cold water by means of the supply-pipe and valve to and the discharge-pipe b on the opposite side, the latter discharging into the trough d, which has suitable connection for carrying the wastewater away from the furnace, all of which is in common with other stack-furnaces now in general use.

The essential feature of our furnace comprises the means we have provided to secure the efiective use of liquid hydrocarbons for fuel. and combustion furnaces L L, situated on 0pposite sides of the stack-furnace. These furnaces are designed to burn coal or wood, preferably wood, for fuel to provide the heat necessary to generate hydrocarbon gases from liquid hydrocarbons. Each furnace has suitable grate-bars M, ash-pit N, a feed-door O, a draft-door P, and a flue-passage R into the smelting-chamber A of the stack-furnace.

In the upper part of each generating-furnace is located a coil of steam-pipes of the form indicated in Fig. 4. It is designed to receive steam through pipes S from a steamboiler near by under sufficient pressure to force the steam into and through the coils of pipes in each furnace,where it becomes highly superheated by the fires therein. The coils terminate with an upright pipe T through the top of each furnace to the valve V, and from thence it continues downward to the mixing drum or chamber U within the furnace. lets e e, which lead to the discharge drum or chamber W, which is provided with a number of outlets that discharge into the fluepassage R. Immediately above the drum U and near the valve V oil-supply pipe g, with regulating-valve h, conducts oil from a suitable source of supply to each furnace. These pipes each fork, with a T joint having arms,

These means comprise the generating" These chambers each have two out- IOO as seen at g g, and enter the drum U directly over the outlet-pipes e e. The oil thus discharged into the superheated steam at once vaporizes and mixing therewith produces a highly-combustible hydrocarbon spray or gas before being discharged from the drum W.

The coil of pipes shown in Fig. 5 is designed to s'uperheat the air to be used in combustion with the hydrocarbon gases. This coil is located one in each furnace, the same as the superheating steam-coils. The air is supplied to each coil thus located from a suitable blast-fan through the pipes X and after passing back and forth through the coils into the discharge-drum y, from the underside of which two outlet-pipes 7c conduct and discharge the heated air above the drum \V near the gas-outlets f, thus securing a combustion that produces a very high heat. The products of combustion thus formed pass out through the flue-openings B into the smelting-chambers A of the stack-- furnace and act with great efiect on the ore deposited therein. The supply of air is regulated at the b1ast-fan, and the supply of steam and oil is regulated by means of the valves V and h, respectively.

The products of combustion in the smelting-chamber are drawn off through the flue F, leading from one side, and into the condenser K, through which it passes in a zigzag course, and thence out Z to the smoke-stack. The condenser thus condenses and collects all volatilized minerals before the waste prod nets of combustion reach the smoke-stack. The smoke-stack J is designed to carry off such fumes and smoke as may escape from the open top of the stack.

Our furnace with the combined improvements herein described is operated by having a fire in each of the generating-furnaces L for superheating the air, steam, and oil and by thus supplying the air, steam, and oil in such proportions as will secure the best results upon the ore being smelted. The bullion as it melts runs into the lead-pot G and is dipped out as fast as it rises in the siphonwell D, while the slag runs off through the slag-hole Q.

After our furnace is once heated the generating-furnace may be kept hot by gas-discharge outlets to from W and special outlets 7r. from y near the center of each furnace, and thus dispense with the use of wood or coal for fuel while in operation.

By means of our improvements we are enabled to successfully smelt and reduce ore without the necessity of an expensive plant. A furnace provided with our improvements can be successfully operated in the vicinity of a mine where smelting-ores are produced, and thus save much expense in labor and freight. The materials used in its construction can be transported into remote localities. The cost of smelting by means of its use is proven to be less per ton than the average cost in large smelting plants, and the first cost of constructing a furnace with our improvement is within the means of most individual mine-owners or mining companies. By our improved means for producing gaseous fuel from liquid hydrocarbons and for regulating the same a stack-furnace may be equipped for the successful reduction of ores, all of which to our best knowledge and belief is both new and useful.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

v 1. A smelting-furnace comprising a stackfurnace with furnaces on the sides thereof for generating gaseous fuel from liquid hydrocarbons, said generating-furnaces de= signed for wood or coal fuel, and each con= structed with superheating steam and air coils located in the upper parts thereof, the steam-coils having suitable valve attachments for regulating the supply of steam and oil, and suitable chambers for mixing and discharging the same, the air-pipe coils provided with a discharging-chamber and pipes to deliver the superheated air near the dischargeoutlets of the gaseous hydrocarbons, said gas and air discharges being into the flue-passages connected with and leadinginto the stack-fin nace, substantially as described and set forth.

'2. A smelting-furnace comprising a set of hydrocarbon-gas generating and combustion furnaces connected with and located on the sides of a stack-furnace, each of said generating and combustion furnaces having each a superheating steam-pipe coil and a superheating air-pipe coil fixed in the upper part thereof, said steam-coil having a valve for regulating the steam supplied therethrough,

connections for supplying oil to said coil, a suitable chamber for receiving and mixing the oil and the superheated steam simulta neously, pipes leading therefrom into a discharging-chamber and said air-coil having a discharging-chamber with discharge-outlets near those of the outlets of the hydrocarbondischarging chamber, said discharge-outlets opening into a flue-passage leading from the generating and combustion furnace into the stack-furnace, all to be used in combination therewith and to furnish heat thereto as described and shown.

3. A stack sm elting-f urn ace, having a smelting-chamber with a water-jacket base, said base resting on a lead-well of suitable masonry, and having a siphon dip-well at the side thereof, a slag-hole opposite the dip-well, a flue leading from the side of said smeltingchamber into and through a condenser, said condenser being an enlarged horizontal chamber having a zigzag passage to the smokestack, and said smelting stack-furnace provided with generating and combustion furnaces at its sides, to produce and supply gaseous fuel in combustion from liquid hydrocarbons, said generator and combustion furnace being provided with superheating steam and air coils and chambers for mixing and ll v tion with the mixing-chamber, means for discharging the superheated air near the outlets of said discharge-chamber, the discharge of the air and gas being into the stack-furnace, and means for discharging a portion of I 5 the gas and air into the combustion-chamber for maintaining combustion therein, substan tially as and for the purposes described.

CHARLES A. HOUSE. FREDRIGK A. DUPEA.

Witnesses:

JAMES E. MOON,- G. W. BULLARD; 

